Walrus Cap Crown
by 0013
Summary: If Sasuke had known that saving Prince Naruto would involve him being surrounded by this band of lunatics, he'd... still have done it. He questioned his sanity. Sasunaru
1. Curse

**Disclaimer:** I clearly do not own Naruto : )

**Summary:** If Sasuke had known that saving Prince Naruto would involve him being surrounded by this band of lunatics, he'd... still have done it. He questioned his sanity.

As far as Sasuke knew, he'd only met Prince Naruto of the Sun Kingdom twice in his life

The first time was the boy's four-year-old birthday party. Sasuke remembered pulling the blonde blob's hair, and instead of crying the little prince took the lollipop that he was holding and stuck it into Sasuke's hair as revenge. He was still miffed about that.

Anyway, there were, surprisingly, a lot of other little babies in attendance. There was a ball of pink that followed him everywhere that day, he recalled her as being the Princess Sakura of the Forest. Her servants brought their kids as well, another girl who wouldn't stop grabbing him whenever he walked by, Ino, and two other boys who wreaked havoc by bringing swarms of puppies and insects into the castle. Sasuke supposed he was kind of lucky that one of the Sea Kingdom's servant babies, Lee, was as keen on Sakura as she was on Sasuke, or else he would've never gotten away from the girl. He never liked the Sea Kingdom's royals much, though. Princess Hinata never said a word and would blush whenever spoken to, and her cousin Neji was…well, he didn't like him. There was a boy he had believed was some sort of life-sized toy until he poked it. He later learned that it was Prince Shikamaru of the Sky, but he never figured out the identity of his chubby sidekick. Prince Gaara of Kingdom Sand was there too, but it didn't look like he had even learned how to walk yet, as he simply sat by Naruto with his teddy bear, glaring at everyone who passed by.

There was a lot of hair-pulling and lollipop-sticking that day, as he recalled. There was one part where a tall, snake-like man walked into the castle, opening the doors with a BANG! Everyone went silent then. Well, almost everyone. Naruto was still yelling at him for stealing his new walrus cap. That was when the man reached down, picked Naruto up, and said something. Sasuke couldn't remember what he had said, but his servant, Kakashi, told him that Orochimaru was angry because he wasn't invited, and warned the king and queen never to forget to invite him or else something bad would happen to Naruto.

After that, the party was over. Sasuke went home, enduring a week-long travel to reach his own castle in the Kingdom of the Moon. He was invited to the Sun Kingdom again the following year, but had caught a cold the day before, and couldn't go. The year after that, he was at a relative's cottage and couldn't make it in time. The year after that he broke his ankle, and the year after that he caught sick again. And so, year after year, Sasuke missed Naruto's birthday.

Until eight years later, that is. Sasuke looked at his calendar, wondering about that nagging feeling he had at the back of his head.

"Kakashi, is there some significant about today?" Sasuke asked his masked servant.

Kakashi looked at him, his eye curving upwards, "no, there is nothing significant about today at all, your majesty." The prince blinked up at him, and then turned back to the calendar. He could have sworn that something important was happening today, or at least this week.

Sighing, Sasuke was just about to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up.

Kakashi's silver hair shone from the light coming through the window, "there is nothing significant about today, but there is something quite significant happening tomorrow."

And that was how Kakashi ended up with an eye patch.

On the way to the kingdom of the Sun, Sasuke racked his brain to try and figure out what this prince Naruto looked like. The most he could remember was a mop of golden hair and big blue eyes. Oh, and a walrus cap. Oh well, he'll just have to see when he got there.

"Anxious?" he heard Kakashi ask. The prince turned from looking out of the window of carriage, and raised an eyebrow, "why would I be?" His servant only chuckled in response and made no reply.

They were getting closer, Sasuke could tell from the sudden rush of warmth. They had probably just entered the territory. He looked at all the peasants working along the wheat fields, and the merchants selling goods in the marketplace. They all seemed much livelier than the residents of his own kingdom…at least during the day.

There was a patter of hooves on dirt beside them. "Ah, I believe it's Princess Sakura of the Forest, do you remember her?" Kakashi's eye curved upwards as he added, "she seemed very fond of you." Sasuke silenced him with a glare, but when he turned back around, he found himself looking into another carriage – Sakura's carriage.

"Prince Sasuke! It's a pleasure to meet you again! It's me, Sakura! Do you remember me? We met years ago, but I haven't forgotten you…" Sasuke blinked, letting the pink-haired royal babble on, all the while gesturing behind him to tell Kakashi to tell the driver to speed up. When nothing changed, he silently vowed to completely blind his servant… or at least take away his collection of erotic novels.

"…and we could, uhm, you know… get together sometime…oh, we're here!" Sasuke let out a small sigh. Finally. Once his carriage stopped, he hopped out and walked straight into the castle. Princess Sakura had opened her door and looked like she expected him to help her out, but he ignored her in favour of the far more welcoming palace.

"That was quite rude, your highness," Kakashi said once he caught up to the prince, "the princess looked quite upset when you walked past her like that." He could almost hear the snickering in his servant's voice.

"She can manage on her own." Sasuke replied, and silently prayed that Sakura wouldn't catch up to him before he could enter the main hall. Unfortunately, the pink-haired royal was beside him in a heartbeat.

"Prince Sasuke, why didn't you help me down?" She asked, sounding a little heartbroken.

Before he could answer, they'd reached the great hall. That was when Sasuke realized that he must have been late, because it seemed like everyone else had already arrived long ago. And by the looks of it, it was the same guest list as eight years ago. Which meant…

"Princess Sakura!" Ah, there he was. Sasuke quickly ducked out of the way as Lee came bounding up to the princess, and walked off in the other direction, leaving Kakashi to deal with the couple while he looked around.

"Oh, it's good to see you again, Prince Sasuke, is your father well?" Sasuke turned around to meet a tall, blonde man – probably the king. He immediately responded with the same answers he used whenever he was stuck in conversation with an adult. Not far into the chat, however, a short replica of the king hopped over and blinked bright blue eyes at Sasuke.

"Hey, dad, who's this guy?" The replica asked the king.

"Naruto, this is Prince Sasuke, from the Moon Kingdom. You remember him, don't you?" Naruto squinted at him for a few seconds, obviously trying to recall the duck-haired boy's name. Sa-su-kay. Sas-kay. Sauce-gay. Sas…wait, Sasuke…

"H-hey! You were the one who kept pulling my hair!"

"I did it because you were a dobe."

"I'm not a dobe, you bastard!"

And thus started the love-hate relationship between the Prince of the Sun and the Prince of the Moon.

As far as Sasuke could tell, nothing had changed. Everything was going along exactly the same way as it had so many years ago. Princess Sakura and her servant, Ino, were stalking him (and doing a terrible job of it), while trying to avoid Lee. Princess Hinata was playing with a puppy in the corner and talking to its owner, Kiba, while Neji towered over him, not noticing the trail of bugs that Shino was releasing up his shirt until too late. He finally found out that the fat kid eating half of the buffet table was named Chouji, looking content gobbling up the food beside the sleeping Prince Shikamaru.

And Gaara was currently glaring at him over Naruto's shoulder. Weird kid.

The only thing that was different was that Orochimaru wasn't-

BANG!

Nevermind.

"Orochimaru! I'm sorry, we didn't think you were, u-uh…" The king stuttered, unsure of what the say.

"Alive?" The pale man answered. Then Sasuke remembered. Right, Orochimaru lived in the swamps, and they had recently lost a war with the village in the mountains. Apparently almost the entire village was destroyed. That was probably why Orochimaru wasn't invited, because they thought he was dead.

"Well then, I'm just going to have to go through with my promise, yes?" and proceeded to walk over to where Naruto stood, beside Sasuke. Guards, and even the king and queen themselves, stepped in the way to intercept him but were easily thrown aside with a wave of his hand. This man must be one heck of a magician, to be able to do something like that so easily, Sasuke thought.

The blonde boy didn't seem fazed, hurling insults and also stepping forward to meet the man. Sasuke was forced to grab onto Naruto's wrist to keep him from moving. "What do you think you're doing, dobe?" He hissed.

"I'm not a dobe, bastard!" Was his only reply.

Orochimaru stopped barely a foot from Naruto, who fiercely glared back up at him. He completely ignored Sasuke, who by now was restraining the other prince by his waist. However, before the short prince could even move, he tapped the boy on the forehead, and Naruto crumbled.

"He'll be asleep for eternity." One last smirk and the snake-like man vanished. No smoke, no magic effects, he just vanished.

The whole day was an odd sense of deja-vu up until now, Sasuke thought as he held the limp body in his arms, sitting on the cold marble floor. It was quite a shame, too. He was rather fond of Naruto (although he'd be damned if he ever had to admit it), he found him kind of…cute. He let the king pry the blonde out of his arms, and then ordered Kakashi to help the sobbing queen.

"I have a better idea, your highness. If I may…?" Sasuke gave Kakashi a weary glance and then waved his hand at him. Do whatever you please, I don't care.

So he was stuck trying to comfort Princess Hinata with Kiba and Neji when Kakashi came back. "May a have a word, your highness?" Sasuke was glad to be rid of the others.

His servant pointed to a robed man with a scar over his nose, talking to the king and queen. "The wizard of this castle is a friend of mine, he's rather good at what he does, and from what I know he really loves the prince. I've asked him to try and fix this, since you seem to like Naruto so much." Sasuke glared at him. Yes, he was definitely going to confiscate those novels.

Soon, the wizard walked over and smiled sadly at Sasuke, then turned and whispered something into Kakashi's ear. He then left to tend to the king and queen once again.

"What did he say?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow. Since when did Kakashi know anyone from the Sun Kingdom? As far as he knew, his servant only ever left the Moon Kingdom when Sasuke did.

"He says that all the guests should leave." Somehow, he suspected that that was not at all what the wizard told him, but he couldn't argue.

Sighing, he took one last glance at the sleeping blonde before leaving the great hall. Let Kakashi do all the work.

Of course, since he left early, he didn't notice the ball of energy the wizard was extracting from Naruto's chest. Surprisingly, no one did. Well, except Kakashi.

"What's going to happen to him?" Was the only thing that came out of Sasuke's mouth on the way back. He never received an answer.

A few weeks after the incident, Sasuke heard from his mother that the entire Kingdom of the Sun was forced into a slumber, and that the land was now protected by a dome of thorny vines. He wondered if that was what the wizard came up with, he couldn't see the point of what he was trying to do.

"He changed the spell," was all that he could get out of his servant. Sasuke sighed, Kakashi was probably just pissed because he took away all his 'classic pieces of literature'.

The story was all over the country in a matter of days. There were reports of dozens of knights, princes, and princesses from all over going missing as they tried to save the sleeping prince. It was rumoured that a kiss was all that was needed to save the prince and his people from eternal slumber.

If that was all, Sasuke thought, then I would have kissed him while he was still in my arms. He then banish the thought seconds later. Besides, it would've been pointless at the time anyway, the kiss was probably the work of the wizard. Either that or it really was just a rumour.

Days, weeks, months passed, and soon the story of the sleeping beauty (Sasuke laughed at the name) faded away like all old news. And before long people barely remembered the event at all, only that there was a dome of thorns where the Sun Kingdom used to be, and that it wasn't really as bright and warm as it was before.

Years passed, and Sasuke reached his eighteenth birthday. It was then that his mother and father urged him to find a wife, or even a husband. He didn't see the point. His brother was going to be the one to inherit the throne, why did he need a spouse?

"You haven't been the same since the whole Sun Kingdom catastrophe four years ago," his mother said, Sasuke noted that Naruto would've turned sixteen this year, "you need someone to lift your spirits." Well, then maybe they should get a new jester. "And really, you only knew him for a day. Two, if you count the time when you were six." But mother, Sasuke wanted to argue, you married father after knowing him for only a day. And besides, he never said anything about wanting to marry the dobe.

He put up with the constant pestering and matchmaking from his parents until, one day, he met a fox.


	2. Fox

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto : (

Thanks to _smartlikeshikamaru_ and _yams41_, who reviewed : D

Sasuke was in the garden. He wasn't sure why, but he figured it had something to do with the black-haired girl blinking owlishly at him. He didn't know why she was blushing, he didn't say anything. He hadn't even smiled. Perhaps she was sick? Her dress didn't do much to cover her chest and it was rather chilly out that night. His parents must be getting desperate at this point, sending him ill women. If anything he would've at least preferred someone smart enough to bring some sort of jacket for this type of weather. He flicked at the frost covered roses as he walked by.

"The flowers here are beautiful, how do you keep them alive during this season?" The girl asked. Sasuke hadn't bothered to remember her name.

"My brother knows magic," Sasuke answered, running his hand under the cold fountain of water.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. By midnight he escorted the lady to her carriage, and left without saying goodbye. She was the fourth one that week.

"Sasuke, dear," his mother, the queen, started, "your father and I have been talking, and we've decided that if you're not going to choose someone," Sasuke knew what was coming next, "we're going to have to do it for you." Damn.

He spent the whole of the next day walking along the garden again. This time with no blushing lady attached to his hip. He sat by the water fountain, dipping his hand into the water and watching the spray hit everything nearby, like the flowers, and consequently himself. He didn't mind, the mist helped him think.

Or at least, it would've had it not been for the blur of red dashing under the bushes.

"What the…" and there it was again, the little red thing darting around the garden. This was odd, Sasuke thought, there usually weren't any animals in the garden, just birds and insects. The gardener did a good job of chasing anything else out. He would have to speak to him about this later, but for now, he'd have to catch the… well, whatever it was.

Crouching low to the ground, Sasuke watched the animal run around, and figured that, eventually, it would have to dart by the rose bush again. He remain still, waiting.

Quicker than ever, the creature dashed through the tulips, heading for the roses. Sasuke immediately reached out, grabbing the thing by its…tails?

Bringing the struggling animal closer, he realized that it was a fox. A fox with one, two, three…nine tails. It was a nine-tailed fox. How peculiar. Maybe he wouldn't talk to the gardener about this.

"What's that you've got there, your highness?" Sasuke would've jumped, if he wasn't so used to Kakashi's sudden appearances.

"A fox." He answered, not bothering to mention anything about its tails. Kakashi had no problem seeing for himself. He put his hand under the animal and adjusted his arms so that he was no longer holding it upside-down, but rather, cradling it. The fox didn't seem to mind. It had stopped struggling and was now more intent on observing its captor.

Deciding that he wanted to keep the animal, Sasuke didn't have much of a problem sneaking it into the castle. He wrapped it up in his jacket and gave it to Kakashi, pretending that he had dropped it into the water by accident. He had a bit of trouble getting it past the maids, but no one ever dared to talk back to the prince, so the three of them were in front of the doors to Sasuke's royal bedroom soon enough.

"Make sure no one enters," Sasuke told his servant as he took the squirming bundle from him. Kakashi just nodded, his eye curving.

Closing the door behind him, Sasuke unrolled his coat, letting the fox drop onto the floor and look at its new home. His father would never let him keep it, so he knew he'd have to figure out a way to bring food up to his room somehow.

He watched the little fox skirt under his bed, only to run back out and sneeze from the dust bunnies seconds later, and then keep exploring. Kneeling down, he held out his hand, wondering if the animal would come to him. It noticed, but instead of moving it turned around and sat down, tails in the air, as if challenging the prince.

Sasuke chuckled, and then walked over to his bed, picking up the fox on the way. Sitting down, he put the fox on his lap. It sat down and stared at him. It had three whiskers on either side of its face, and bright blue eyes. He also noted that its fur wasn't really red, but more of an orange colour. He seemed to feel oddly familiar with it.

"I should give you a name," Sasuke said aloud.

The fox cocked its head to the side, and scratch its ear.

"How about…Kyuubi?" Sasuke asked it. He remembered that HHHeKyuubi was the name of a fox-like monster in a legend he'd heard long ago.

The fox whined, and scratch his thigh. It didn't like that name.

The prince looked it over again, and decided, "Naruto."

The fox seemed to almost smile as it happily snuggled Sasuke's hand, then hopped off of his lap to try and shred the pillows. It was now dubbed Naruto.

Suddenly, Sasuke had an idea.

"Stay," he told Naruto. The fox didn't seem to notice, but when Sasuke opened the door and paused to look back, it only blinked at him, unmoving. Good boy, Sasuke thought.

"Honey, what's wrong?" His mother asked when he ran into the room.

"How long do I have before you choose someone?" Sasuke asked.

His parents looked at each other, both quite confused. His father turned to look at him, "Sasuke, what are you talking about?"

Sasuke brushed his long bangs out of his face, "how long do I have before you choose someone for me to marry?" he repeated.

They looked at each other again. He saw his mother's lips move as she whispered to his father, then his in turn as he replied. He noticed his father's almost angry expression as he argued with his mother. She had a completely neutral look on her face, but seemed to be speaking extremely fast. This continued on for a few more moments until they both turned back to him.

"One month," said the king.

"One month," he repeated, before turning and leaving the room, ignoring his parents' puzzled looks.

"One month? Are you sure, your highness?" Kakashi asked, "do the king and queen know about this trip?"

"They will, I've arranged for Itachi to tell them after we've left." Sasuke answered. He had to admit, as slightly deranged as his brother was, he really understood him sometimes.

"Now, what exactly brought this on? I thought you'd forgotten all about Prince Naruto of the Sun." his servant's look told him that he didn't think that at all.

"The fox, it reminds me…of him." Sasuke looked away. If he was going to be forced to marry no matter what, it might as well be to someone of his choosing. And he chose Naruto.

"Well then, who's going with us? And how are we traveling?" Kakashi showed no signs of surprise at this new idea, almost as if he knew it was going to happen. Sasuke growled at the thought.

"No one, just us. And if we want to get out unnoticed we're going to have to go by foot. You know the way, don't you?" The prince replied. Naruto was settled on his lap, looking back and forth between the two. The little fox almost seemed amused at the conversation going on. Then it was hit with a familiar sensation. Naruto started whining and pawing at Sasuke's thigh. Sasuke, I'm hungry. I'm hungry, Sasuke. SasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasuke…

Finally, Sasuke looked down. "What's wrong, Naruto?" And then he realized that the animal probably hadn't eaten all day. He looked up and ordered Kakashi to steal a bun from the kitchen. The servant nodded and left, leaving the prince and the fox alone. The sun was starting to set, and Sasuke noted how much darker it was nowadays, and how much longer the winter lasted each year ever since the Sun Kingdom was cursed. He then wondered if all of this was worth it. "Do you think it's worth it Naruto?" But the fox only blinked up at him and continued pawing.

When Kakashi came back, he did not have a bun in his hand.

"The chef thought I was bringing food for you, and he wouldn't allow me to leave with day-old bread for the prince," his servant explained, putting the bowl of ramen on Sasuke's desk.

Naruto didn't seem to care though, as he hopped onto the table and started lapping at the broth.

"Kakashi…" Sasuke started, Kakashi sat down beside him on the bed, "do you think this is the right thing to do?"

"No," Kakashi said. Surprised, Sasuke turned, he wasn't expecting such a curt answer, but then the silver-haired man continued, "I think you should've chosen one of the pretty girls your parents threw at you, married her, started a family, and lived happily ever after. That way, there'd be no problems."

Sasuke was at a loss for words.

"But," Kakashi leaned forward to pet Naruto's many tails, "you never listened to my advice before, why should you start now?" Heh, he had a point.

"Right Naruto?" Naruto lifted his head from the bowl of ramen, a noodle hanging from his mouth. Sasuke smiled. Sure, they'd leave tonight.

"Where must we go first, Kakashi?"

"The Sea Kingdom."


	3. Chase

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

Thanks to _LunaticCharm_, _Yams41_, and _smartlikeshikamaru_ for reviewing. : )

Sasuke did not understand why their first stop had to be, of all places, the Kingdom of the Sea

Sasuke did not understand why their first stop had to be, of all places, the Kingdom of the Sea. He didn't care if it was the closest territory or that they might have things that the Moon Kingdom didn't. He didn't want to risk the chance of meeting that insufferable Neji.

"Don't worry about that. Right now we still need to make it out of here unnoticed." Kakashi reminded him.

It was midnight. The moon and its many stars were glowing brilliantly in the night sky. People were starting to crowd the markets and children filled the streets with games and laughter. The Kingdom was the most alive at night.

It was a decent strategy. During they day, most people were sleeping and the streets were bare. By nighttime, it was often so crowded that if a mother didn't keep tabs on her child, they could get kidnapped right in front of her face without her noticing. Many merchants moved in and out of the kingdom to bring in and out goods. If he and Kakashi could pass as merchants during the busiest time of the night, then they might be able to get by without anyone looking at them twice, the guards would be too busy with all of the other merchants.

"Here, put this on, your highness." Kakashi said, throwing a simple cloak at the prince. Sasuke quickly put it on, pulling the hood over his face.

They were in the garden. The mist from the water fountain was creating a light fog throughout the entire area. Naruto was leaning over the edge of the fountain, splashing at the water with his paw.

"Do you have the goods, Kakashi?" Sasuke asked. His servant held up a large leather bag and gave him a thumbs up. He wondered what the silver-haired man had in it, but didn't ask.

"Are we ready to go?" Sasuke heard a voice to his left. He swung his head around to see his brother, Itachi, leaning against the wall.

"Yes, Itachi, we are." He replied.

Itachi pushed himself off of the wall and gracefully made his way over to the nine-tailed fox. "And will you be bringing this creature along, little brother?" He asked as he scooped the surprised animal up into his arms, to Sasuke's dismay. Naruto thrashed in his arms, clearly not happy.

"Yes, I am." Sasuke answered through his teeth. His eyes never leaving the squirming fox. Naruto fidgeted and struggled to no avail. Itachi did not seem to want to let go. Eventually, the fox twisted itself until it noticed Sasuke. The two made eye contact, and Naruto paused.

Come, Sasuke thought. Naruto leaned forward and bit the older prince's arm. Itachi winced, his grip loosening, and as soon as it did, Naruto was jumping out of his arms and running along the fountain before hopping onto Sasuke's chest.

"It seems," Itachi started, rubbing the sore part of his arm, "like the fox is very fond of you, little brother."

"It is, indeed, your highness." Kakashi answered. He had finished all of the preparations and was ready to go. "We must be going now, if you'll please let us pass?"

"Of course." Itachi stood aside. With one last glance at his brother, Sasuke brushed past him. "I'll tell mother and father in the morning." He heard Itachi whisper.

The streets were brightly lit with elegant red lanterns and white wax candles. People were buying and bargaining everywhere he looked. Naruto was cuddled up in his cloak, peeking out from the gap between the buttons. He had to keep the fox from jumping out every time they passed by a ramen stand. He had little difficulty keeping up with his servant, but found himself wondering if they could pull this scheme off the closer they got to the gates.

"Don't worry, your highness," Kakashi assured him, after sensing his unease, "we'll make it through, I promise." And then his eye curved upwards, and somehow Sasuke believed him.

There were two guards and a short line-up of merchants at the gate. Some with huge wagons of merchandise, others with bags similar to Kakashi's. Sasuke carefully hid Naruto under his cloak, not letting the fox peer through any longer, in case anyone saw him. He didn't need people making a spectacle of his nine-tailed fox when he wanted to escape the kingdom.

They were up next. The guard eyed him suspiciously as he and Kakashi walked up, he glared back.

"Names?" The guard asked.

"Ihsakak and Ekusas." Kakashi replied. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Those names sounded ridiculous, like Kakashi had just taken their names and flipped them.

The guard looked like he thought the same thing, but the man continued anyway. Lots of people these days were changing their names to something 'unique', right? Maybe these guys just took the idea too seriously. "Where are you headed?"

"To the Sea Kingdom."

"And what are you selling there?"

Without answering, Kakashi simply held up the bag, and opened it for the guard.

The man took one look inside, and then leaned back, holding his nose. "I-Is that all?" The guard stuttered, his face starting to go red.

"Yes, that is all." Kakashi smiled, and the guard let them through.

Sasuke could have sworn that the man now had a bloody nose. Could it be that Kakashi found out where he had stashed his novels?

It wasn't until they were far, far away that Sasuke finally let Naruto out from under his robe. The fox let out a pleasant mew and ran about the prince's feet, happy to be free.

"The Sea Kingdom is southeast of here. If we keep along this path then we should be able to get there by dawn. And keep your hood on, people will still be able to recognize you there." Kakashi whispered, leaning down to give Naruto some water from his canteen. He was right, the Sea kingdom was very close to the Moon. He probably wouldn't be able to relax until they were near the Forest, and even then he had to be weary – Princess Sakura lived there.

The black sky was starting to turn into a dark blue. Naruto had to be picked up because he was tired of running alongside the prince. Instead he rested on his shoulder, his nine tails tucked inside Sasuke's hood.

The blue was now getting lighter, with hints of red and orange appearing along the landscape. The walls of the Sea Kingdom were starting to tower over them, and the smell of the sea was evident.

"We're here." Kakashi announced. Like before, there was a line-up of merchants seeking entrance into the land. Also like before, the guard's face turned bright red and he and Kakashi were granted entrance.

"Kakashi, what's in the bag?" Sasuke finally asked when they found themselves resting by the water, watching the residents buy and sell things that he had never seen before. Naruto was sitting on his lap, sleeping.

"These," his servant answered, pulling an orange book out of the bag. Icha Icha Paradise. Just as he thought. "I found them behind the encyclopedias in the library, I'm sure you had nothing to do with it of course, your highness."

"No," Sasuke said, "I had nothing to do with them at all." Dammit.

It was daylight now, the sun shining dully through the many clouds. It was never as bright as it used to be.

Naruto woke up and started whining. Sasuke, I'm hungry. Sasuke...

Sasuke looked down and sighed. "Alright, let's go." He grumbled, getting to his feet and letting the animal slip off of his lap. "Kakashi, I'll be right back. Stay here." He ordered. Kakashi just nodded and flipped open his book.

It wasn't very long before Sasuke realized that Naruto only ate one type of food, and that was ramen. He sighed, resting his head on one hand as he watched Naruto lap up the broth. If he had known this earlier he wouldn't have blown the last couple dollars buying shrimp balls, oysters, and other seafood's, trying to feed his pet.

"If this is all you eat then we're going to have a problem when we leave the kingdom. I don't know if the Forest has ramen." Sasuke whispered to the fox. He gave up trying to hide Naruto's tails. Not many people actually bothered to notice the little animal, and the ones who did barely gave it a second glance.

Naruto's ears perked up, and he turned his head, looking around.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sasuke found himself asking, forgetting to feel like a fool for talking to a fox out loud. He looked in the direction that Naruto was staring.

There was a girl – or at least, Sasuke thought that it was a girl – sitting two seats down from him. Her hood was covering her face, and in front of her was an untouched bowl of ramen.

Of course, Naruto took this as an invite to eat her food. The fox immediately bounded over and started chewing on the noodles, surprising the person so much that she almost fell out of her stool.

"Dobe!" Sasuke hissed. He got out of his seat and walked over to the frightened girl, "I'm sorry about this, he's…" That's when the prince saw the girl's face.

Her face was round and cute, with dark purple hair that was much longer than he remembered. She had a pale complexion and even paler eyes, one would think that she was blind if not for the place she was in.

Only the Hyuuga family, the rulers of the Sea Kingdom, had those eyes, Sasuke thought. "Princess Hinata?" The girl looked away (well, he assumed that she looked away, it was hard to tell) and blushed, not answering.

There was a loud yip from the fox in front of the two. Naruto had already that finished the bowl, that greedy dobe.

Sasuke was unsure of what to say. What was the princess of the Sea doing so far from the palace? On the few trips he had made to this place, he had heard that the king and queen never let their children outside the castle walls. The fortress was more heavily guarded than even his own.

Hinata seemed to understand his confusion, "Lee sneaked me out."

"How?" Sasuke asked without thinking. Naruto was pawing at his arm now. Sasuke ignored him, the fox already had two bowls of ramen as big as itself, it didn't need anymore.

"W-well…" Hinata stuttered, blushing even more, "he threw me out of a window."

Naruto stopped pawing to stare at Hinata with wide eyes, jaw open. It seemed as thought the animal knew what they were saying. How smart, Sasuke found himself thinking before realizing what the princess had just said.

"He threw you?"

Hinata nodded, "out of a window."

Somehow, Sasuke didn't think that his first actual conversation with the princess would be about being thrown out of castles.

After a moment of awkward silence, where even Naruto was quiet, Hinata continued.

"Y-you see, every Thursday morning Lee throws the laundry out of the f-fourth story window to Gai, so that he can bring it down to the s-sea to be washed. He was just so into his work today that… he…h-he didn't realize that I wasn't laundry…" he princess was as bright as a tomato now, with her hands drawn up to her chest and pressing her fingers together.

Sasuke wasn't sure if he could even believe what she had just told him. Naruto, however, rolled over and seemed to be laughing.

The only thing Sasuke could bring himself to say was "you can't wash your clothes in the sea, it's salty." How lame.

"You can in our kingdom, we have a powerful wizard," said a voice behind the three, "how do you do, prince Sasuke? Are your parents well?" Crap, he didn't think was so recognizable.

"Neji," Sasuke had to bite his tongue to keep from insulting the other boy, "what are you doing here?" Naruto peeked over his shoulder to sneak a look at the Hyuuga.

"I could ask you the same question," the long-haired boy answered, he then turned his attention over to his cousin, "Hinata, your mother and father are looking for you."

"I-I know but," Hinata pressed her fingers together, refusing to look at Neji, "can't I stay here a bit longer? I've never been outside before…"

Neji's eyebrows furrowed together, he was clearly not happy. "You're not supposed to ever leave the castle, you're a princess! We've got all of the guards out looking for you!" Just as he made a grab for her arm, Sasuke stopped him. He wasn't sure why, it might've been because of Naruto nudging him to do something.

"And what do you think you're-"

"PRINCESS!" Neji was cut off by a funny looking boy with eyebrows the size of caterpillars. Naruto jumped.

"L-Lee!" Hinata stammered, eyes wide. Sasuke was starting to grow weary, these people were insane, and it was only mid-morning. He'd never last the day here, he'd have to get Kakashi and find a way out of here soon.

"Princess!" Lee brought his voice down a little. A little. "Why did you leave the castle? Was it because of teenage REBELLION? Master Gai says that REBELLION is no way to spend your YOUTH!" Everyone plugged their ears, Naruto hid inside Sasuke's sleeve. The prince looked around, people were starting to stare.

"I didn't l-leave on purpose…" Hinata almost whispered, he and Neji had to lean forward to hear the rest of her sentence, "you threw me out-"

"What?! When?!" Neji did not look pleased. Then again, when did he ever?

"This morning, when he was doing the laundry, he…uhm…" She didn't need to finish, it seemed as though Neji knew Lee enough to understand what had happened. Lee himself looked shocked.

Huh, Sasuke thought, these people really are crazy.

"GUARDS!" The male Hyuuga suddenly called out, making Naruto jump again, "ARREST THIS MAN!"

"No!" Hinata yelled (well, sort of). She grabbed Lee's arm and dashed into the crowd just as a group of guards squeezed through. Sasuke took this as a good time to get away, but Naruto didn't think so. He appeared to like the princess, because the fox immediately jumped up and bit one of the guards right on the nose before hopping onto another and tearing at his forehead.

"Dobe!" Sasuke yelled, now they'd be after them too! He ran by and snatched Naruto off of the man's head, then ran off in the same direction Hinata and her servant had gone seconds earlier.

They were followed by a seriously pissed off Neji and his barrage of soldiers.

"I should've just thrown you out of my garden when I caught you!" Sasuke hissed as Naruto snarled at their followers over his shoulder.

They were quickly catching up to the princess and Lee. The two looked to be having a difficult time trying to get through the peasants, who were listening to Neji's yells of "stop them!"

Hinata couldn't push through the crowd while holding onto Lee, who was struggling out her grasp with cries of "I deserve to be punished!" and "I'm so sorry, princess!" until finally, she let go of him long enough to throw a flying hurricane kick.

Sasuke barely dodged the fat fisherman who flew in his direction. Hinata was definitely not as innocent as she looked. He wondered where she learned that from, it couldn't have been from her parents.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Naruto chose that moment to jump out of Sasuke's arms onto the floor, chasing after Lee and Hinata.

Whispering a long string of profanities under his breath, Sasuke vowed never to feed Naruto ramen ever again… assuming he got Naruto back, of course. Which he would.

Neji and his hoard were catching up to them now. Apparently it wasn't very easy to get through so many people when there were more than two of you. Sasuke didn't hesitate to run after the princess now, she had his fox.

Hinata was fast. Too fast, even for Sasuke. He made a mental note to ask her where she got her training from. Ducking behind a barrel of fish as Neji ran by, he searched the area. Hinata was going straight the entire time, and then turned right and disappeared. It could be that she and her servant were hiding like he was…

There was a piercing scream to his right, and he barely caught a blur of purple and green – and a little speck of orange – flying up onto the house rooftops. Not a problem, Sasuke thought as he jumped up after them. A quick glance back and he saw Neji land a housetop behind him with three other guards. Neji mouthed something to them, and one guard threw his spear past Sasuke, towards Lee.

"Hinata!" He yelled. She turned and, upon seeing the weapon flying at her friend, sweep-kicked the still-apologetic Lee. By doing so it flew right over the falling servant and instead pinned the princess's coat to the roof. She undid the buttons to her cloak faster than anyone could see, and was already dragging Lee across two more roofs (with Sasuke not too far behind) before Neji stopped gloating long enough to realize that he was certainly not winning this battle.

Hinata was worried. Sure, she could run for days if she had to, but she had no idea of where to go. If she turned back then Lee would surely be thrown into the dungeons – or worse!

She then felt a tug at her hair.

It was prince Sasuke's fox! Naruto, who was originally clinging to the skirt of her cloak, had pawed his way up to her shoulder and was now yipping in her ear. Lee noticed too, and now changed the subject of his yelling to how lonely nine-tailed foxes must be.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked, feeling a bit foolish for talking to an animal, but she was desperate.

The fox lifted its paw and pointed downwards and to the right.

"You want me to jump down?" Call her crazy, but the princess swore that the fox had just nodded.

Figuring that things were going downhill anyway, she tightened her grip on her hysterical servant and jumped, landing gracefully on the concrete (as gracefully as she could, anyway). Lee was not so lucky.

A rare moment occurred when a vein throbbed on Hinata's forehead. They were running from the law, her cousin was coming after them, she was now taking advice from a fox with nine tails, and her best friend was still freaking out! She had had enough.

"Lee!" Hinata snapped, whacking the boy upside the head. He was stunned into silence. "This is not your fault, I knew you wouldn't notice me this morning, I did this all on purpose! Now I order you to escape with me!"

"Princess…?" Lee's voice was at an all-time low. Did the princess just yell at him?

"Did you hear me? Obey your princess!" Hinata almost shouted, the crowd was growing, they needed to get out of here fast.

"Y-YES, YOUR HIGH-!" Lee was cut off as both he and the princess were shoved roughly forward.

Sasuke, who landed just a few seconds prior, was not going to let himself be caught by an arrogant bastard like Neji. "Go!"

And so the three teenagers found themselves running for their lives once more through the streets of the Sea Kingdom, guided only by the yips of one many-tailed fox.

It wasn't long before Sasuke realized something, "we're not being chased."

Lee came to an abrupt stop, causing Hinata to run into him, and Sasuke to run into her. They all went crashing. Except for Naruto, who was quite comfortable standing on the dog pile.

Rubbing his head, Sasuke sat up. People weren't crowding anymore. He figured that most, if not all, of the residents had no clue as to what princess Hinata looked like, since she was never allowed out of the castle, which explained why no one was paying them much attention, even with Hinata fully exposed. There weren't anymore guards chasing them, the four of them were just sitting in the middle of the square, looking silly.

At least, that's what he thought.

"Got you." Neji said, emerging from the crowd. Around them, guards came forward, hidden before by the throng of marketplace people. They surrounded the group completely.

Naruto growled, bearing his fangs at Neji. The Hyuuga's expression didn't change, but he shifted his position so that he was no longer in front of the fox. Good boy, Sasuke thought.

"How are you going to escape this time?" Neji asked, a triumphant smirk on his face. Sasuke wanted to rip his mouth right off of his face. Naruto seemed to think the same thing, because he bound towards the boy, almost glowing with rage. Or wait, Sasuke squinted, was he really glowing? The guards moved to protect the royal, but it didn't seem to faze the fox. Naruto jumped on each blade in his way, using it to propel him upwards before making one last jump towards Neji's face.

As much as he wanted to see it, Sasuke knew that leaving a royal without a face was not something he wanted to deal with. So, as fast as he could manage (which was, in all seriousness, pretty damn fast), he pushed himself off of the ground and caught Naruto in mid-air. Forget what he said before about never giving the fox ramen again, he now owed it to him, a year's supply at least for not letting him tear up the male Hyuuga.

Unfortunately, they were all still very vulnerable. Sasuke was now being held back by two burly guards, while Lee struggled with three others and Hinata looking extremely uncomfortable, being dragged away by another two.

"Get that fox." Sasuke heard, and he immediately pulled Naruto closer, under his cloak. He'd be damned if he let them take away his dobe. Then he wondered why he felt so close to an animal he'd met only a day ago, he hadn't liked anyone – or anything – so much since…

"Naruto!" Sasuke hissed as the fox popped its head out from under his coat, snarling at the guards. Geez, when was Kakashi when you needed him?

There was a gust of wind, a very strong gust of wind. One that made everyone in the vicinity topple over, everyone except Sasuke, Hinata, and Lee.

"Your highness!" Came a familiar voice.

"Kakashi!" Sasuke made a mental note that this would be the only time he would be happy to see his servant.

The older man was by a stall selling all sorts of pearl jewelry. He didn't seem at all fazed by the lumps of unconscious soldiers by his feet. Beside him was another man, Sasuke took one look at him and was overcome by a strong sense of déjà vu. He'd seen this man before.

The prince turned to the two people behind him, "Shall we go, then?" and both of them could do barely anything more than nod. Yes.

Sasuke had to say that the journey out of the Sea Kingdom was much easier than he thought it would be, what with the previous chase. It seemed as though Kakashi's friend was the main reason no one asked questions.

As for Neji and his hound of soldiers, they were still immobile by the time they got to the gate. Either that was a really strong gust of wind, or it wasn't really wind at all.

The whole time they were leaving, Sasuke stared at the new man. He knew only two things: that the man was familiar to him, and that the scar across his nose was the reason why.

"What do you think, Naruto? Do you recognize him?" He quietly asked his fox. He gave up trying not to look insane, talking to an animal and all, after watching Hinata turn into some sort of ninja and listening to Lee speak loud enough to destroy his eardrums. Naruto looked over at the person with Kakashi, talking to the entrance guards as if he knew them, and then let out something that sounded oddly like a sigh.

"Guess not." Sasuke then concluded that he must have seen the man for a very short period of time for him not to recall who he was. Then he mentally added another tick to his scoreboard of insanity for asking Naruto's opinion on the matter. Again.

There was a tap on his shoulder. It was so light that Sasuke was sure that, had he been anyone else, he wouldn't have noticed it. He turned his head just enough to see the girl behind him, "what is it, princess?"

"I-I…" The girl stuttered, her long, dark hair now tangled from the wind, "I just wanted to t-thank you… For saving Lee and I…" She pressed her fingers together. Over her shoulder, Lee gave him a thumbs up and a blinding smile, "YES! WE THANK YOU!"

On his shoulder, Naruto winced, some of his tails brushing along Sasuke's neck. Normally, he would ignore thank you's, he never cared for them, but after a short moment Naruto used one his tails to whack the prince rather harshly on the back of the neck. Say you're welcome, you arrogant bastard!

"You're welcome," Sasuke said before he realized it. Thinking it over, he added another two ticks to his scoreboard, one for understanding what his fox was saying, and one for even having a scoreboard of insanity in the first place. This was getting bad.

They were out. Actually, they'd left the kingdom a while ago, Sasuke was just too busy contemplating his mental state to notice. They were walking fast, mostly to catch up with Kakashi and his friend, who were so busy talking to each other that they didn't notice how far they were getting.

"…and that's how to make carrot cake. I didn't even know you liked carrots, Kakashi."

"I don't. I just wanted to hear your voice." Kakashi's eye curved up so much it was almost a line.

"Wha-!" The man then proceeded to turn so red that the sheer brightness of his cheeks caused Hinata to start blushing.

Sasuke's eye twitched. His servant was acting very familiar with the man, enough to flirt with him. That in itself was odd, he had always thought that Kakashi was straight, considering that he had enough porn novels to create a small library. Go figure.

Naruto nipped at his ear. "What?" Sasuke asked. Naruto pointed to the mysterious newcomer, and then to the couple behind them. They might know him, ask.

Huh, Sasuke thought, why hadn't he thought of that? Outsmarted by a fox. Epic fail.

The prince slowed down until he was in pace with the Sea Kingdom residents. "Lee, princess Hinata, do either of you know who this person is?" He asked, keeping his voice down.

"Oh, we thought you knew him," Hinata said, now trying to untangle her hair with her fingers, "he's the-"

"GREAT WIZARD, IRUKA!" Lee finished, his voice reaching a new volume.

"Yes, Lee?" The man now identified as Iruka turned, giving Lee a warm smile, "did you need something?"

Wizard! A flood of memories washed over Sasuke. There was a wizard at the Sun Kingdom six years ago! This was a very important detail, how could he have forgotten? Sasuke cursed himself for forgetting. But then, why is he working at the Sea now? And what did he do to the Sun Kingdom? And how did Kakashi know him? And…and…

Kakashi watched as Sasuke remembered his wizard friend. The prince's face was neutral, but his eyes betrayed him. Naruto, all the while, was eyeing Iruka with interest. Maybe, Kakashi thought, the fox would remember him too.

"I'll explain later," the silver-haired man told his prince, then pointed ahead, "we're getting nearer to the Forest. Stay close, this territory is at least ten times bigger than the Moon."

Sasuke nodded. He was right. Even though, technically, the Sky was the largest Kingdom, and the Moon the most powerful, the Forest owned the most land. Thinking about it, Sasuke was surprised it didn't have more inhabitants, their population was barely any larger than his kingdom. They were just like the Sea, lots of territory, but not enough people.

It was starting to get dark, not because of the time – it was only lunchtime – but because of the tall trees.

"Be careful," Iruka said as they traveled further into the Forest, "we don't want anyone to get lost."


	4. Snake

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

Sasuke would never have guessed just how tall the trees grew from afar, he assumed that not many people did. They were less than ten minutes into the Forest territory and there was barely any light at all, save for the speck near where they entered.

Sasuke could feel Naruto's tails flicking at the back of his neck, the small weight on his left shoulder somewhat comforting. He could hear snippets of Hinata and Lee's conversation behind him (more Lee than Hinata), and after hearing words like 'soup', 'parrot', and 'axe' in the same sentence, he concluded that they were running out of things to talk about.

It was getting darker, Sasuke noticed. Before there were at least spots of light from the gaps in the leaves above. He sighed, and silently wondered if he could get Naruto to do that glowing thing he had done before, considering that it actually happened.

He heard Kakashi whisper something somewhere in front of him, and then a soft murmur from Iruka. In an instant, there was light. Sasuke could see the illuminated forms of his servant and the wizard in front of him. It was coming from Iruka, the man was holding something. He turned, and it turned out to be an orb. A simple glass ball that apparently held light. Sasuke made a mental note to ask Iruka for one of those later on.

"It's a long walk from here to the castle, if we don't stop then we can make it there by dawn," Iruka started, Sasuke wondered how they'd even be able to tell the time with the forest being so dark, "but I think we're all a little tired, so we're going to set-up camp so that we can at least be rested when we meet the Haruno's."

Sasuke opened his mouth to object – he felt perfectly fine – but felt a whip at the back of his head. Damned fox. Naruto seemed to always know exactly what he was thinking. Don't you dare, we need sleep! Sasuke felt a growl form in his throat, since when did he start taking orders from a fox?

"We don't need to do that, we can seep when we get there," the Moon prince stated.

"YES! WE CAN STAY AWAKE WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Sasuke didn't even try to make sense of what Lee had just yelled.

"We'll we're not setting up camp right now, we still have lots of time," Kakashi started, "but the light orb can only last for a few hours, and if we continue without rest then none of us will be awake enough to fix any problems that may arise," there was a pause, and then, "this is a forest, there are wild animals everywhere, and many of them have no trouble seeing in the dark."

Oh, right.

"…Fine." Sasuke glared. He was not used to not being in control. Naruto sniggered.

The deeper they got, the quieter the forest seemed. If he had to guess, Sasuke would've figured that around two hours had passed. Two hours of excruciating boredom. Hinata was so quiet he had to turned around several times to make sure that she hadn't been dragged off somewhere, and Lee wouldn't shut up for the world – no one bothered listening to him anymore.

The only company Sasuke had was Naruto, who had decided to walk alongside him. The little fox would occasionally peer up at him, asking a question or making conversation, then get angry when Sasuke answered with a "hn" or a "dobe". Sasuke, in turn, would ignore him, just to rile the fox up a bit more.

…Sasuke added ten ticks to his scoreboard.

"I-Iruka…" Hinata's soft voice almost echoed in the eerie silence.

"Yes, princess?" Iruka turned, and Sasuke could see that the light in the orb was getting fainter.

"Can we r-rest now?" The dark-haired girl stuttered, pressing her fingers together. Her hair was no longer tangled – she had probably spent the whole time fixing it. Sasuke noted that she was almost swaying on the spot.

"It seems like a good enough time," Iruka replied. He then turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, would you mind trying to find some sticks to make a fire? We'll need some rocks, too," Iruka paused, then handed Sasuke his orb.

The prince accepted, but wondered, "if I have the light, then how're the rest of you going to do anything?"

"THE GREAT WIZARD IRUKA can make ANOTHER ORB!" Lee yelled, his smile visible even in the darkness.

"I wouldn't count on it," Kakashi said, amused.

Iruka sent him a sharp glare, then turned back to Lee, "I can only use what light I've collected. The only way I would be able to make another light orb is if I actually had some light to fill it with." He explained.

Sasuke looked at the dimming glass ball in his hand, and had an idea.

"Why don't you take some of this light and put it into another orb?" That way, both parties would have at least something.

The wizard seemed to like the idea, and produced another globe seemingly out of nowhere (but Sasuke knew better).

Afterwards, the prince was left with a considerably darker orb, but it was enough to see by.

He wasn't more than a few steps away from the group when he heard the pitter-patter of Naruto's paws behind him. The fox then sped up, hopping onto the back of Sasuke's cloak and climbing up onto his shoulder. He pawed at the prince's hair. I can't believe you were going to leave me behind, you bastard!

"I knew you'd follow, dobe," Sasuke smirked. Naruto just whined some more and tugged at his hair.

They made quick work of finding everything, and Sasuke soon found himself with the orb in one hand and a large bundle of sticks and stones in the other. He was starting to feel quite unbalanced.

It turned out that Naruto could see a lot more in the darkness than he could, and had come up with a large fraction of all that Sasuke was struggling with.

"Let's go back now, Naruto. We have enough," the prince called to the orange fox. Naruto didn't answer, instead, he growled. Something was wrong.

Sasuke froze, straining to hear anything in the dense forest. He did, the barely audible cracking of twigs. Someone – or something - was coming, and from the look on Naruto's whiskered face, it was not one of the others.

Whatever it was, it was directly in front of them. Naruto had stepped backwards until he was directly in front of Sasuke, protecting him…Or, at least, his shoes.

The sound was getting louder, and it seemed like, whatever it was, it was running. Sasuke could hear a hiss. That's weird, he thought, that sounded like a snake, but snakes didn't have feet. Which meant that there were two things coming their way.

They couldn't run. If they ran back then everyone would be in danger, but if they left where they were now, then there was no guarantee that Sasuke and Naruto would ever be able to find Kakashi and the others. Then again, if they didn't move, they could end up as something's dinner.

Sasuke decided that being lost outranked being eaten, he dropped everything but the light orb, "Naruto, we have to-"

Then, Neji ran into the clearing…

Okay, so maybe they weren't screwed.

…Followed by a snake the size of three grown men.

Oh, shit.

Sasuke had no idea what to do. So, he did the first thing that came to mind, grab Naruto and run, Neji be damned. He reached down, picked up the fox by five of its nine tails, practically threw him up onto his shoulder, and ran to the right. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Neji follow closely behind.

The snake was fast, but Sasuke made a point to run through every small gap he could find. It wasn't hard, there were so many trees that it wasn't difficult to spot two that were too close together. It also helped that Naruto was yelling directions into his ear. Good boy.

Sasuke had heard about people being able to do impossible things when they were scared, but had never felt the adrenaline rush himself, until now. Even with all the training in his palace, he never would've been able to jump through so many gaps for as long as he did. He then regretted thinking that, because now that he realized it, he also started to feel the weight in his legs.

To the left! Naruto stretched a paw, pointing to a tree that split almost at the roots. If Sasuke – and Neji - could manage to jump through it, then the hole just might be enough to keep the snake in place if it followed.

Sasuke jumped through it, and almost tripped on the landing. He could feel Naruto swing forward on his shoulder, his claws digging into Sasuke's shoulder to keep himself from falling off. The prince would've very well slammed face-first into the dirt had he not pressed his hands to the ground, propelling himself up and forward. There was a soft thump behind him, probably Neji. They were barely running now, and the serpent hadn't caught up to them, did he dare look back?

He heard Naruto sniggering on his shoulder, and turned. Neji, it seemed, had stumbled and fell when he jumped through the hole in the tree, and was scooting away from the huge snake, whose body was stuck. It hissed and snapped at them, long tongue darting in and out of its mouth.

"It's not going to stay that way for long," Sasuke whispered, and Naruto immediately shut up. It was true, the serpent was clearly struggling, and they could hear the tree's two large branches cracking under the pressure.

Sasuke quickly leaned forward, grabbing Neji by the collar and dragging him up into a standing position. Both of them were too tired to run any more, adrenaline could only get you so far.

"Dobe! What are you doing?" Sasuke tried to catch Naruto as the fox leaped off his shoulder, but missed. He had a slight case of déjà vu as Naruto stood protectively in front of him and Neji, growling at the snake as if it just a spider.

Sasuke racked his brain for a plan. The only one of them who was able to run was Naruto, and he made it known that he would not leave Sasuke. It would've been useless, anyway. Unless Neji was secretly a wizard, they had no magic to use, and it didn't matter how physically strong either of them were, they wouldn't be able to take on a snake that big.

The prince was starting to go delirious when there was final SNAP, and the serpent broke free.

It was amazing, really. Almost as if he were watching everything in slow motion. The snake bolted forward, and would've had Naruto down its throat, if not for the transformation. The little fox glowed, like earlier in the Sea Kingdom, except this time it was almost blinding. Sasuke watched as Naruto grew, his nose grew longer and his legs grew stronger, and his tails whipping every-which-way. And then, when he was roughly the size of a lion, he pounced forward and sliced the snake's long tongue clean off, causing it to draw its head back in pain and surprise.

All this happened in a fraction of a second.

Naruto was practically on top of the snake now, forcing its mouth shut. He was clawing at its eyes. Sasuke looked around, and found a large walking stick laying by Neji, who looked to be in a state of shock (could you blame him?). Grabbing it, he noticed that one end was much sharper than the other. How lucky, he thought as he ran past Naruto and jammed the stick straight into the snake's tail. It took most of his strength and all of his weight to pin the snake to the ground, but he did it.

Naruto noticed, and jumped back, satisfied that the creature couldn't reach him. The snake was smarter than it seemed, apparently, because once it was aware that Sasuke was behind it, it immediately whirled around, fangs bared.

Sasuke would not have been able to move in time. In fact, he would have probably lost at least a leg even if he did. So, he (and Naruto) was extremely grateful that Neji had snapped out of his reverie when he did. The Hyuuga had to admit, he had a very good aim, and could very well make a weapon out of anything - thanks to his tutor in the castle (Tenten's motto was "dodge it or die") – so when he spotted all the sticks and twigs on the ground, he decided that, although annoying, a living Sasuke was better than a dead one. Besides, he doubted that Sasuke's fox would be very happy with him if he let the prince die.

He had two seconds to aim before Sasuke would be devoured. It took him one. The stick he had snatched was long, straight, and not too thin: perfect for piercing through the serpent's mouth.

He whipped his hand forward, the spear-like stick stabbing the head of the giant snake.

Now, the snake was pinned to the dirt by the mouth and the tail, making a 'U' shape with its long body. The reptile barely had time to move before Naruto leapt up and ripped the top of its head off.

Sasuke was sure that he'd have nightmares for weeks.

"So, now what?" Neji was the first to speak. Naruto had turned back into his little foxy self and was curled in Sasuke's lap, who was currently sitting on the forest floor, far from the dead snake.

Sasuke had dropped the light orb shortly after jumping through the double-branched tree. They found it afterwards by its soft glow, but the light inside was now so dim that they could barely see Sasuke's hand holding it. Before, Naruto's glow provided tons of light, but he wasn't glowing anymore, and Sasuke doubted that Naruto could do it again unless they were in more danger.

First however, he had a question.

"Neji, what are you doing here?"

Somewhere in front of him, he heard the Hyuuga sigh and sit down.

"By the time I became, uh, un-paralyzed, you were all gone. I figured that you had our wizard, Iruka, with you, since he was definitely the only person who would've been able to use that kind of paralyzing magic," Neji started, Sasuke strained to see him through the darkness, "so I went up to his laboratory and borrowed a few spells, like this one," Sasuke assumed that Neji was holding something similar to a vile up, but he wasn't sure. Naruto blinked up at him. It's an orb.

"It's a speed spell, since Forest is the closest territory to Sea, I guessed that you would be heading here," obviously, Sasuke thought, "I was lucky to have caught you guys before you entered the Forest, I guess."

But the how come we didn't hear you? Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side. Sasuke almost said that it was because the dobe wouldn't have been able hear anything over his own voice, but refrained from doing so, lest Neji think he was crazy. Instead, he voiced the fox's question out loud.

"Silence spell," Neji replied easily.

Well, that explained that. Kind of. They still had to find a way to get back to the group.

There was a sound to their left. A howl, and a voice.

Dogs. Sasuke heard Naruto say, climbing off of his lap and onto his shoulder. And they've got a boy with them.

"Should we leave?" Sasuke asked, quietly. He was talking to Naruto, but it sounded like he was asking Neji, who was getting up.

"Yes," said Neji.

No, said Naruto.

Sasuke added one more tick to his scoreboard of insanity for choosing a fox's answer over a human's. "Neji, wait." He hissed at the other boy. He heard the Hyuuga stop, and then, "if we don't leave soon, we're going to be killed, Uchiha!"

Naruto pawed Sasuke's cloak. The guy, he's talking about a castle, I think they can help us.

The dog was getting closer, Sasuke could hear the boy's voice clearly now, "Akamaru! What'd you find?"

The boy was holding a light orb, a strong one. He had messy brown hair and a red upside-down triangle on each cheek. His dog was white, with brown ears, and was looking straight at Naruto.

He stopped right in front of them, and Sasuke could see Neji crouched beside him, looking ready to start a fight.

Then the boy spoke, "hey, you guys are early!"

…What?!


End file.
